Help Me Get Up
by troyellalove1
Summary: Gabriella has a tragic past and has been an easy target for bullying since moving to East High. She sees Troy as a rescue, and he's happy to be there to comfort her. But when it comes to a relationship, Troy is hesitant when he stops to think about what Gabriella is pulling him into. When decisions have to be made, he isn't sure whether to go with his heart or his head.
1. An Early Decision

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own any of this. All credit goes to Disney.

**Help Me Get Up**

Troy walked out of geography with his head down. That had been his last class of the day and he was extremely tired from his basketball game last night. He had barely gotten any sleep at all, so he could barely think as he turned left to walk down a long hallway towards his locker to pack up, a hall being filling with students from other classes.

It was finally dismissal, and Troy planned on falling asleep the second he got home. He could almost count the steps to his locker. His feet were set to autopilot; he'd walked this path so many times he barely had to think about where he was going.

Troy didn't really feel like talking to anyone; only getting home. He was passed by other people in simlilar situations as he turned into another hallway.

When he looked over at a pack of students, he frowned a little. They were apparently all looking at something, seemingly on the ground. He moved over to the left side of the hallway for a better look.

As he got closer, he was shocked to see that what everyone was staring at was a girl on the ground, books all over the place and tears in her eyes. Troy didn't recognize this girl, but she was obviously being bullied by the people around her.

He heard one of them talk. "Get up! Don't just sit there!" The girl on the floor stuck out a leg out for balance and started to stand up. A tall girl with pink dyed hair pushed her back down. Everyone started laughing even harder while the victim sat up against the lockers with her knees up by her face, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Look at her, it's hilarious! She's on the ground like a baby, doing nothing but being silent and crying. I wonder why she has no friends..."

"Yeah, it's a real mystery!"

She looked up at all of them with tears on her cheeks. She spoke so quietly, Troy could barely hear her, closer though he was only twenty feet away and walking closer. "Guys, please...just walk away, let me go."

"We'll go away if you make us."

She stuttered and hung her head. "Please just leave."

They obviously weren't going anywhere. Both Troy and the girl knew that. He decided against going in and physically hurting each one of them like he wanted to and instead walked quietly up to whoever it was that was sitting against the lockers.

Troy kneeled down beside her, only a foot away. He reached over and slid one of her books back to where he was, then picked up a second and started gathering them up.

She looked over at him, then back down at her feet. "What are you doing? Please go away. I don't need another shove."

A boy in the crowd spoke up. "Hey, Troy, stop! You're ruining it! This is funny!"

Troy turned around and looked him straight in the eyes. "Shut up. Or I'll make you. And the rest of you too, get away from here. Now."

They looked at him hesitantly, but eventually the crowd started to thin out. Troy Bolton was Troy Bolton, and they didn't doubt what he would do wouldn't be good for them at all.

Now that they were leaving, Troy turned his attention back to the girl whose hair was covering her face. He pushed it away with his hands so he could see her face.

She spoke. "Please leave. Don't do anything just get up and walk away."

"I'm not gonna do anything. I'm gonna help you get up. Here." He pulled in her books, now once again in a neat pile, so they were next to her.

"What are you doing? You're Troy Bolton. Most loved and well-known guy at East High. And I'm nothing. So why are you helping me?"

"You're not nothing. You're obviously someone who's been going through tough times, that's all. And you're a person with your own desires and feelings. Which is more than I can say for those people. Someone like you is not nothing."

She looked up at him with barely enough self-esteem to make eye contact. "Well how do I know this wasn't planned and you aren't going to just shove me back down?"

"How do we know Judgement Day isn't today? We don't, but we still have to live life assuming it's not. I can't prove to you I won't shove you back down, you just have to trust me."

"I've learned not to trust anyone. They all are plotting or scheming in some way to make me look like an idiot so they can laugh."

"Well that's not me. Just look me in the eye and trust me. I'm not gonna do anything." He reached his hand under her eye and stroked her cheek to wipe away the tears on her face. "What's your name?"

"Gabriella Montez." She said, extremely shy.

"Okay, well Gabriella, it's safe to get up now. They're all gone." The crowd had left completely and the hallways were emptying.

"But you might just push me back down and leave."

"You have to trust me."

"I guess so...there isn't really a way you could prove you won't shove me down."

Troy considered something and decided to take a risk. "Yes there is." He leaned in, touched his nose to hers and pressed his lips passionately onto her cheek. He released and ran his hand through her hair one time.

Gabriella looked up at Troy, unsure of whether to be creeped out or amazed. It had felt so...sincere. Like he meant it and really cared that she got up and could go on. She smiled.

A look of relief came on Troy's face. She appeared to have liked it. They looked in each others eyes for a few seconds until Troy asked, "So are you ready now?"

She nodded, still smiling. Troy outstretched his arm. "Okay Gabriella, give me your hand. I'll help you up."

She thought about it, then slowly reached her hand out to his. He took it and slid an arm behind her back. He spoke in a gentle voice. "Come on. You can do it, Gabriella."

When she reached a standing point, Troy released his hand from hers but kept the arm on her back. Facing her, he asked, "So are you gonna be okay?"

"Yes." She sounded happy and excited. Troy picked up her books and handed them to her.

"Thank you." She said. Then her smile faded. "But what if it happens again?"

"Then I'll be there again."

"What about on the walk home...sometimes stuff like that happens there, too. I pass the same kids who were just here."

"You walk home?"

"Yeah. It's not that far from here. And usually it happens about half the time. Maybe not that extreme, but they just won't let me go."

Troy looked down, considering the fact that he wasn't really on a schedule and had all day to do whatever he wanted. "Well I could walk with you."

She looked at him, confused. "You would walk me home?"

"If it's not too far away."

"It's only like ten minutes."

Troy nodded. "Alright then."

"But...I still don't see why you care so much. You've helped me up and I've said I'll be okay. So why are you still talking to me?"

"Because you're not okay yet. You just need someone to...basically be a mentor. I'm not saying the reason I'm here is to fix you, but I want to help you just by being around you because both of us seem to like it."

"You like being around me?"

He shrugged and nodded. "You seem like the kind of person I like to have around. Someone to make feel better, who also clearly has personality, and where they could do the same for be because they've been in similar situations."

"Wow. Well, I can safely say you've got my trust. So if you were serious about walking me home..."

Troy laughed and looked down at his feet. "I was serious about that. I would do it if you wanted me to."

Gabriella smiled and blushed. "I would love that."

* * *

Troy and Gabriella walked out of the building with their backpacks on and Gabriella pointed to a sidewalk.

"Right there. Then we follow that until we get to my neighborhood."

Troy nodded and they both turned that way. "Gabriella, did you just move here or something? Because I haven't seen you at school at all."

"I transferred over here a couple weeks ago. Since I got here, people found it was pretty easy to bully me around and stuff, so what you saw in the hallway happens a lot. Actually, pretty much every day."

"And no one did anything?"

"Well no one really cared. They just walked by and stared. Then they left."

"Well I care. And I want you to be alright. I'll keep standing up for you."

"I know, Troy. And I'm really grateful for that. Cause I was kind of shutting down...you know? I just stopped talking to people and decided not to talk to anyone."

"Well that's really sad. As you definitely know by now, you can come to me when it happens."

"Thank you."

"Have I earned your trust?"

"Troy...you've earned a lot more than my trust."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Gabriella blushed and looked down at her feet. "Never mind." She said, smiling slightly.

"Okay." They walked ahead for about a minute of silence.

"So Troy, I want to thank you for what you did. I mean, that happens a lot, where they try to make me look like an idiot and it really hurts. So I'm happy that you stepped in and at least slowed it down."

"Well, I hope I did more than slow it down. But as I said before, if it happens again, I'll be there."

"When you said to that kid...shut up or I'll make you...what did you plan on doing?" She asked, laughing.

Troy smiled. "I didn't really have anything in mind, I was just mad that anyone could be that much of an asshole to think what they were doing was funny. When I first saw it, I was about twenty feet away. You looked so powerless and they looked like they were just getting joy out of making you feel pathetic and worthless. Well, I don't think you have to worry, because everyone who was watching thought the people doing that to youwere the ones who were pathetic and worthless. Not you."

"We'll how bad did it look for me?"

"Like...here was this sensitive, innocent girl who never did anything wrong sitting on the ground crying because a bunch of people wanted to make themselves feel power."

"That bad?"

"You didn't look bad at all. I saw you and was instantly pulled in. You know? I could feel your emotions transferring from me to you and I felt your pain. With someone else, I would've helped them up and moved on, but with you, it's like...I didn't want to walk away because you seemed so fascinating. And I just wanted to be around you. Talking to you and protecting you."

She didn't respond for a few seconds and Troy looked over to see her blushing. "Sorry...I didn't mean to...like...sound like a stalker or anything. But that's just how I feel. Already."

She shook her head and smiled. "No Troy, it's okay. No one's ever stuck around with me and definitely never offered to walk me home. It seems like the people who were doing that were also spreading stuff about me so people don't really want to be around me. I love how much you already care about me and I can tell you that I love being around you too."

"If no one wants to be around you they don't know Gabriella. They know rumors. But I can see now how great a person you are. You're this sweet, sensitive, beautiful girl who..wait...sorry I mean like, you know...you're great to be around." He looked down at his feet for a long time and blushed.

"Sweet? Beautiful?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."

She smiled. "That's okay, Troy. I definitely don't mind compliments like that. I don't really get any. But you must feel really strongly about me if you're willing to say that already."

"Well I really like your personality. I think you're a great person to have near me."

"Okay. Well, my house is coming up in less than a block. So I can go from here."

"Alright. Bye." He turned to walk away but Gabriella stopped him. "Wait, Troy?"

"Yeah?"

She took out a piece of paper and a pen. "You want my number?"

Troy smiled. "I forgot to ask! I honestly meant to ask." He said, laughing.

Gabriella wrote down her number on the paper and handed it to Troy. "Here you go. And thanks for walking me home. That was really sweet of you."

"No problem." He leaned in again and kissed her, this time on the forehead, then headed off.

Gabriella smiled and ran up to him and before he noticed she was there, she kissed him back on the cheek. "Thanks for helping me up."

"You're welcome." He said, smiling warmly. "See you tomorrow."

"Okay Troy."

She smiled as she turned around and walked towards her house. She had seen everything in Troy. Nothing like what he was had ever been in other guys before. He was definitely special. And he was so affectionate towards her. She had been shoved down so much that she was crying on the floor, feeling hopeless at the end of the school day. But then when she thought it couldn't get any worse, someone who seemed to have the qualities of her dream guy had come and sent the crowd away, helped her up, cheered her up, kissed her cheek passionately and walked her home. And now he had her number! Gabriella was thrilled. Talk about turning around a bad day.

* * *

**DISMISSAL, THE NEXT DAY**

The bell rang to end the final period. Troy walked out of geography and knew where to find Gabriella. As he turned into a long hallway, he looked at the spot where he'd met her the day before. She wasn't there and she wasn't on the ground. He didn't see anything unusual. She wasn't at ther locker, either.

Troy turned into a hallway to head towards his locker. He was disappointed; it had been three periods since he'd had a class with Gabriella and he loved talking to her. Now, she had apparently left. He confirmed it to himself and went to his locker quietly.

Troy packed up his things and shut his locker door. The hallway started to thin out as he walked towards the exit. After turning into an empty hall, he could hear his own footsteps.

When Troy got closer to the exit door, he convinced himself that Gabriella still cared about him. It made sense; she definitely did. He had been the first one to make a real effort to stop what she was going through and she obviously felt so comforted when she was around him.

He opened the door and turned to the left. He felt someone jump on him, wrapping both legs and arms around him. Troy jumped back in surprise, but recognized the laugh of Gabriella.

"Hey, you." She kissed the top of his head and let go. Troy turned around and saw her.

He smiled. "I thought I'd find you at your locker."

"Well, I know you come out this door each day at dismissal, so I hurried when I was packing up and ran here. People saw me leaning against the wall, watching the door and looked at me like I was crazy. But it was worth it! I made you think I was about to assault you." They both laughed.

Troy's face lit up and he looked at her like he'd just had an epiphany. "You know...we're technically friends but we go around kissing each other, stroking each others hair and saying how great we think the other person is."

Gabriella looked down at her feet and blushed, but the smile stayed on her face. "Well then, Mr. Bolton, we might just have to do something about that. Come over here."

She led him over to an empty bench in front of a field. They sat down, each feeling nervous. Troy was wondering what she had in mind by "do something about that."

After sitting down, Gabriella pressed the entire left side for her body on Troy's right side. "So Troy, when you talk about the possibility of being more than friends, how serious are you about that?"

"I would love to do that. I've told you how sensitive I thought you were and I love that. I've said how inspiring you are and how much I like being around you. You're great to talk to and I already know that you would be there for me and I would be there for you."

"And I agree. I didn't really think anyone would look at a girl who got bullied a lot and think anything more than 'that's too bad.' So I really can't believe how much you care that I'm alright and about me. It's amazing."

Troy pulled Gabriella in and held her with both arms. "Well, Gabriella Montez, I'm now asking this without any hesitation. Would you like to do what was meant to happen by taking us a step further and...I know it's soon but would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She smiled. "There it is. He said it. I would love to be your girlfriend, Troy."

"Well...that was simple."

"No it wasn't. You still need an official initiation."

"And what would that be?" He asked, smiling.

"Just lean in." She put her nose on his and tilted her head, then moved it closer to his face. Her eyes started to close, then they opened again, seemingly asking Troy's permission. He answered. His eyes closed almost immediately and he pressed his lips fully against hers. Gabriella opened then a little to adjust position and Troy held her head in his hands.

Gabriella slipped both arms around Troy and he pulled her right into him, pressing her body completely into his.

Troy opened his lips a little to slip his tongue into Gabriella's mouth. She smiled, knowing it was no mistake, and returned the favor. She stroked his neck as she gently held Troy's lips with hers. He circled his tongue around the inside of her mouth, exploring and trying to get as close as he could to her. Gabriella closed her lips so she could suck on his tongue.

Troy turned to the side so he could lie down on the bench, with Gabriella right on top of him. She smiled and lowered her head onto his to make her hair cover most of his face, then let her weight slowly collapse on him.

For Troy, this was about establishing the fact that he cared for her deeply and wasn't going anywhere. Troy would stick to the bond that was naturally between him and his new girlfriend. He knew that Gabriella didn't get nearly enough care and respect as she wanted from anyone else at school and that she'd felt neglected by people. Especially as a victim of bullying, she needed affection like this. Troy was determined to give her what she wanted and satisfy her need for romantic attention. He held her tighter and rolled over so he was on top of her.

To Gabriella, this was the most amazing thing that had happened in her school life. By far. The feelings she experienced from Troy whenever she was around him, but especially now, were amazing and he was such a great kisser. She had been longing for this kind of love for so much time. Such passionate and intimate love that was obviously there all along. Gabriella had never been shown so much affection and she absolutely loved what she was receiving from Troy. She felt safe with him and hadn't thought she would ever mean this much to someone. It made her feel so special and so important.

The attraction between Troy and Gabriella was so strong that neither of them wanted to leave each other's arms or mouths. Nothing could compare with how much Troy cared about Gabriella. Now that they were officially together, they both realized their feelings for each other were there from the beginning, and each one was so happy to have the other person at their side.

**_SO DID YOU LIKE IT? PLEASE REVIEW! THANKS FOR READING!_**


	2. Gabriella Opens Up

**I DIDN'T THINK I WAS GOING TO HAVE MORE CHAPTERS. IT'S BEEN FOREVER SINCE I PUT THIS STORY OUT AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A ONESHOT. I WAS ACTUALLY AT CROSS COUNTRY PRACTICE AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS AND I REALIZED I SHOULD DEFINITELY CONTINUE. I'M EXCITED TO SEE WHERE I GO WITH THIS STORY BECAUSE I'M LITERALLY JUST MAKING IT UP AS I GO. ENJOY! PLEASE REVIEW! AND FOLLOW IF YOU LIKE IT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE MORE CHAPTERS!**

**HELP ME GET UP - CHAPTER TWO**

"Aren't you worried that there's not much of a foundation?" Taylor asked. It was lunch, the next day, and Taylor McKessie had found Gabriella and let her sit at her table.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella responded, confused.

"Well, from what you've told me, you and Troy got together a day after you met. And there needs to be friendship first before a relationship or it'll feel weird. Trust me. You two basically just jumped right in."

"Well I don't see what's so bad about that."

"I basically just said what was so bad about it. It has a poor chance of lasting if you rush it. Because aside from the fact that you have no intellectual stimulant with each other, which there needs to be, by getting together a day after you meet, what that does is make it so you feel like you have to keep going and moving up at the same pace. It's a psychological thing. To put it in a metaphor, imagine that you're running a five mile race, and right when it starts, you're sprinting as fast as you can, which is what you're doing with Troy. Right now, you're happy and confident because you're doing so well at such an early part of the race. But you won't be able to keep that pace up and finish. So if you don't slow down and you decide to keep the ridiculously fast pace for such a long race, you'll collapse. You and Troy will collapse. I'm not trying to be negative, but that's what the situation is."

"No it's fine. I guess you're right. From where we were yesterday, after we became official, I wasn't planning on trying to move up so fast." Gabriella was a little worried when she thought about what Taylor just said, but she figured Troy liked her enough to not want to break up over pressure to move up in their relationship. Or at least she hoped.

* * *

**At Troy's table**

"I'm surprised that no one else was willing to help her up. I didn't think our school was that filled with jerks."

"Well Troy, you don't need to worry. Karma will take care of them." Chad said. "That's what makes it so I almost never get too worked up when people piss me off. They've all got their day waiting for them where they'll get what they deserve. When someone always acts too tough and is mean to other people and gets violent and says things to anger everybody, it's inevitable that someday, somewhere, they'll say something to the wrong person. Then they'll have hell to pay, and justice will have been done for all the people that they were jerks to before. Don't worry."

Troy laughed. "Well, you make it sound pretty manageable."

"Yeah. So you only knew her for a day before you got together?"

"Yeah I know. It's pretty rushed, but I don't think we'll keep moving at the pace we're going at."

"Well obviously. You guys would be married in a month if you did."

"Yeah."

"What was it that got you?"

"You mean that made me hooked?"

Chad smiled. "Yeah, sure. Was it the ultra-sensitiveness?"

Troy laughed. "That was part of it, especially in the first ten minutes or so. I didn't imagine that there would be someone in her situation that would respond to me like that."

"You mean her situation with being bullied?"

"Yeah. There's still some stuff I don't know but I'm guessing she doesn't have much support anywhere, maybe not even at home."

"Yeah that's probably why she came onto you so quickly. I'm not saying that was why and she doesn't like you but I think wanting someone to show her they cared about her would be a motive to try to get out of the friend zone as soon as possible."

"Yeah, that could be part of it."

"That wasn't intended to make you think that maybe it was a bad idea to get together with her."

"Yeah I know, it didn't. But I'll talk to her later about how fast we're moving. Then find out more about her, since for a couple, we don't know much about each other."

"So it'll be like you get together and then get to know each other?"

"That's not what I intended at first but yeah I guess we reversed the normal process and that's how it'll be."

"Alright. Well good luck."

"Thank you."

The bell rang, and Troy and Chad passed Gabriella and Taylor on the way out of the cafeteria as they headed to their next classes. They smiled at each other and went their own ways.

* * *

**DISMISSAL**

The school day was now over and everyone headed to where they needed to be after school. Troy stopped by Gabriella's locker.

"Hey, can we talk?" Troy asked.

"Oh, sure." Gabriella said quietly. She had a deflated, disappointed look on her face and in her voice like she was expecting a breakup.

"That's not a very optimistic way to think, if you're expecting me to dump you. Everything's fine, I just need to talk to you."

Gabriella smiled a little. "Well, you know I'm not a very optimistic person."

Troy held her hand as they walked. "I know, but hopefully you won't assume the worst of what I'll be asking you. It's not that big of a deal, everything's fine." Troy was doing his best to comfort her, since she was obviously nervous. He led her down a long hallway, up the stairs and to a door.

"Where are we going?" Gabriella asked.

"You'll see. Do you know your way around this place?"

"Not that well. Why?"

"Well I figure you probably haven't seen where we're going before, so I wanted to show it to you. I'm surprised no one ever goes there, since it's a really great place. We're almost there."

When they got to the door, Troy pulled it open and Gabriella gasped when she saw outside. She hadn't ever seen a garden with such variety in it. The door had led them out onto the rooftop, where there were amazing flowers and plants spread out all over. "It's beautiful up here." She said. "I wasn't expecting anything this good."

"Yeah, East High can have some surprises in it." Troy said casually. He led her over to a short wall that was about two to three feet high, and apparently made for sitting, from the way it looked. It was the border to a flower bed with a variety of colors.

They sat down next to each other, still holding hands. "Which ones are your favorite?" Troy asked.

"You mean flowers?"

"Yeah."

"I like these blue and yellow ones right here. But the magenta ones over there are also nice."

Troy nodded. "I like the white ones."

"If I knew any names of these flowers I would sound a lot smarter."

They both laughed. "I know pretty much nothing about their names." Troy said, shrugging.

"Same."

They both turned the upper parts of their bodies to face each other.

"So, Gabriella?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think our relationship feels forced, because it feels pretty natural, but I just think that it was a little fast, since it was only a day or so before we got together."

Gabriella nodded like she was expecting it. "Yeah I know, and that makes it feel a little weird, but I don't really have strong doubts."

"Well what I'm saying is that I do feel extremely attached to you. That's why basically no time went by before we got together. But it just seems a little awkward since we don't really know each other."

Gabriella lowered her head and stuttered, looking around nervously.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked.

"So are you just beating around the bush because you want to break up?"

"What? No! That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just saying we should sometime have a long conversation where we get to know each other better, so that we feel more interested in each other and it feels more natural."

"Oh. Okay. And yeah, Taylor was talking to me about that and telling me if we didn't do that soon then we would crumble, since we have no real foundation right now."

"Well, that's what she thinks. The foundation we have is the strong commitment I felt towards you when we first made eye contact as I was helping you up."

Gabriella smiled. "That's really sweet. And I'm glad you felt so strongly."

"Well, that's part of why we got together so quickly."

"There's a reason I wanted to get together so quickly, and I'll tell you, but please don't take it the wrong way. Because I did it because I liked you so much, not because of this. The only way this influenced my decision is that I felt like no one cared about me, and I've always felt like that. But it wasn't a big factor. The reason I wanted to get together was overall just how much I liked you and how much you worried about me."

Troy smiled. "Now you're the one beating around the bush." He kissed her on top of the head. "It's alright, I won't think any less of you."

Gabriella squeezed Troy's hand tighter and slid closer to him, turning to look in his eyes before she spoke. She could tell she had his undivided attention. "Well Troy, I was born by accident."

His eyes widened. This was a lot more serious than what he'd expected. He was silent, trying to think of what to say. Troy knew that he had to choose his words extremely carefully. But Gabriella interrupted him to say more.

"I was born accidentally to two teenagers. They were dating in high school and they slept together. They didn't use a condom and the girl, my biological mother, became pregnant. When she told my biological father, he dumped her. Then she gave birth to me by herself and put me in an orphanage. I've never even seen her or my father."

Gabriella stopped talking and buried her head in Troy's shoulder, crying. Troy turned and pulled her onto his lap so her back was against his chest and stomach. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and nuzzled his head alongside hers so the sides of their faces were touching. He whispered emotionally into her right ear, his nose and mouth touching it. "Gabriella, I'm so sorry. I don't even know what to say. I had no idea."

"You don't have to say anything." She said quietly. "I know that was a lot for one conversation."

"No, it's fine. Don't be worried about giving too much away. That wasn't too much information but you don't have to keep going if you don't want to."

Gabriella shook her head and tried to gain control of her breathing. "No, I've said enough that I might as well just finish."

"Okay, but if you want to stop, don't feel pressured to finish."

She nodded. "When I was about two, I was adopted by a couple who had been married for almost five years. They later divorced and don't ever see each other. So I live with my mom and she doesn't really care about me. So that's what makes me feel like people couldn't care less about me or anything about me. Thank you for listening to that because I really needed to tell someone."

"Of course. All I can say is I'm sorry. I feel so bad for you and I'm just at a loss for words."

Gabriella turned her face into Troy's neck and kept crying. Troy rubbed her sides and began kissing her cheek. "Gabriella, thank you for telling me. I know that was a lot for you to say. I promise you can come talk to me whenever you need to."

Gabriella stuttered as her breathing spiked. She was still crying hard.

Troy squeezed her against him. "Gabriella, just take deep breaths for me, okay? It's alright."

"Thank you." She closed her eyes and Troy moved his hands to her cheeks. He stroked with his fingers and touched his forehead to hers.

She gradually quieted down, leaving Troy to think. He couldn't imagine being in her situation. No wonder she seemed so pessimistic. She really had no one who cared about her, and it made perfect sense that when he came along and paid so much attention to her, she would want to be his girlfriend right away. Troy hoped that it was only a small part of the reason they got together like she had said, and that the main reason for wanting to be with him was that she liked him for who he was. But he trusted that she wasn't just in it to feel like she had a supporter, since she didn't strike him as someone who would want to just go out with anyone. He was confident that it was because she liked him for being him. He was definitely glad they were together.

A few minutes later, Troy looked down at his phone. He should've left five minutes ago, but it was worth it since he was able to hear what Gabriella said.

"Gabriella?"

The response was silent. Troy looked at her face and saw her eyes were closed. She had just fallen asleep. He kissed her forehead slowly and repetitively until she stirred and woke up. Gabriella stared up at him as her eyes opened gradually, and smiled when she saw him looking at her.

Troy smiled back. "Hey sweetheart."

"Hi Troy."

"I'm sorry but I have to leave now. If you want to talk tomorrow after school we can. Or at lunch or whenever."

"Alright. I want to do after school again because I'm almost always free then. I'm not in any sports and I don't do anything after school since I have basically no friends here, as I'm sure you figured out by now. And based off of what I told you about my adoption and how my mom doesn't care, you can probably also figure out that there's no time I have to be home by."

Troy nodded and ran his fingers through her hair. "Yeah. And again, I'm sorry you have to go through that. Remember though that I'm here for you to talk to. Also, you can call me or text me about it anytime you want."

"I know. Thank you so much for that, it really means a lot to me."

They stood up and headed back inside to leave the building.

When they got to the door that led outside, Troy stopped and walked over to the lockers with Gabriella. Once he had her comfortably fitted into the corner of the hallway, he stood against her, wrapped his arms tightly around her and put his mouth onto hers. Gabriella smiled and responded enthusiastically. It was their second real, complete make out kiss, inspired by Troy's urge to stay with her and not even leave to go home.

When they were finished, both of them walked outside and eventually came to the part of the walk where their routes were separated. Before they went on different paths, Gabriella kissed Troy's neck area. "Bye Troy."

Troy smiled and kissed her forehead. "Bye. I can't wait to keep talking to you tomorrow. See you then."

"See you." She smiled back at him and they went their separate ways until school the next day.

**I'LL BE UPDATING WITH MORE CHAPTERS SOON. THERE'S MORE ABOUT GABRIELLA AND MORE ABOUT HER RELATIONSHIP WITH TROY COMING UP IN THIS STORY SO PLEASE FOLLOW THIS STORY IF YOU LIKE IT! ALSO, PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK SO FAR, BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE HEARING EVERYONE'S SUGGESTIONS ON WHERE I COULD GO FROM HERE. THANK YOU!**


	3. A Harsh Reality

**HELP ME GET UP - CHAPTER THREE**

The bell rang to end third period. Gabriella walked quickly through the hallways, since her next class was on the other side of the school. She weaved anxiously through crowds of people, and tried not to be spoken to or even seen. She was walking alone, as she almost always did, except for the times when her and Troy had similar paths to their next classroom. They had been together for three days now, and had a few classes together, which they didn't notice until the day Troy helped her up in the hallways. But Troy wasn't anywhere near her in the third-fourth period intermission, since he had a completely different location of his second, third and fourth period classes. So Gabriella walked along the wall, anxiously humming a random tune to herself, which had become a habit of hers when she was nervous.

Troy also walked from third to fourth period, slowly, because his next class was only a couple hallways down. He was followed by Chad, who walked a similar route to his next class. Them and Gabriella were on opposite sides of the school. Troy already missed Gabriella, even though he'd been around her first period. He was tuning out Chad's endless rambling as he thought about what Gabriella had told him on the roof about her accidental birth and adoption. A part of him was glad that she felt good enough about being with him to open up like that so early, and he was happy that she trusted him to that extent. The other part, the much bigger part, though, was devastated for her and wanted to spend every possible second holding her and trying to comfort her. They wouldn't see each other this period, but they would both get to be in the same room the period after this one. That's what Troy and Gabriella were both always focused on towards the end of fourth period, and today was no different.

When the fourth period bell rang, Troy got up and walked quickly to where he knew he would find Gabriella; at the hallway that joined into the hall he walked through on his way to fifth period.

When he got to that hall, he stood at the intersection and waited for Gabriella. He stood there for a bit before he realized she must've already passed through here, so he walked to fifth period alone and assumed Gabriella would be there.

But when Troy got there he didn't see her, he became a little worried. She was a fast walker and was never late to class. There were only about twenty seconds until the late bell rang, maybe a little less. He walked over to his seat, which was right next to Gabriella's. After sitting down, he saw Gabriella walk into the room a few seconds before the bell rang.

She sat down next to him. Troy smiled and said, "Hey, I missed you."

"I missed you too." Gabriella choked out. Her hair was mostly covering her face and it sounded like she was crying.

"Gabriella is something wrong?" He moved her hair gently out of her face with his thumb. She had multiple tears on her cheeks. "Baby, what happened?" He asked with shock.

She hung her head so no one could see she was crying. "Well it's why I was almost late coming here. Because on the way over...I..." She closed her mouth to gain control of herself and her breathing.

"Take your time, brie. Relax and talk slowly. You don't need to rush, I'm not going anywhere." Troy had to fight a strong urge to reach over to her seat and pull her onto his lap, just like they had done on the roof of the school a few days ago when Gabriella told him about her past.

Gabriella took two deep breaths, then turned her head towards Troy to tell him. "I was walking here and I was almost finished walking when some group of people, mostly girls, cornered me. The same group that was there when we met and you helped me up. They didn't get physical but they were interrogating me about you and what I think in an aggressive way so that's why I was almost late coming here, since I had to stop for that."

Troy was confused. "How did that make you cry?"

"Because they got me to say some stupid stuff and I'm worried that maybe I also told them too much about what I think of this stuff and they were threatening me that they were going to tell you."

Troy opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the teacher, who was starting the class. He decided to wait. "I'll talk to you at lunch, okay sweetheart? Sit at my table."

"Okay." Gabriella said. She gradually calmed down over the course of the period as she waited for lunch to come so Troy could say whatever it was he wanted to say.

* * *

**LUNCH, THAT DAY**

Gabriella sat down next to Troy at his lunch table, just like he'd said. "Hi Troy."

"Hi. I wanted to talk to you about what you could do about those people who stopped you. It's not the best advice I've ever given, but it's something."

"Well that's fine. What is it?"

"It probably won't work but try to find a group of friends where at least one of them is always around you when you walk from class to class. So you'll never be alone in the hallways when I'm not there. That's the only idea I really have that works."

"Well that's not a bad idea. But it's harder than it sounds. You know that I really have no one anywhere who supports me."

"But I guess it can't hurt to try, can it?"

"Yeah, but I don't think there's any way around being confronted by them."

He nodded. "It does seem pretty tough to avoid. I'm sorry that I don't really have the ability or power to intervene more, but I can only help when I'm around."

"I know, it's fine. At least you're helping. I'm happy that you care about me and I'm thrilled that you want me to be your girlfriend. That feels great."

"I feel like a lame boyfriend that I can't do more, since they never do anything to you anymore when I'm around. So I never really get the chance."

"No, it's okay. You're an amazing boyfriend. More than I could ask for. You don't have to go out of your way to fight my battles. I just want you to have feelings for me, show those feelings, talk with me and understand me, support me and stuff like that. And you're doing a great job at all that stuff, so thank you."

"No problem brie. You know I do it because I want to. And you show the same attitude towards me that I show you, so thank you for that and letting me know we feel the same and want to act the same towards each other."

Gabriella smiled and nodded as Troy reached over and grabbed her hand.

Troy couldn't understand what he was missing from what Gabriella told him. "I'm still just confused. What did they say to make you cry if they were just asking you about me?"

She looked down at the table. "Nothing really. Don't worry about it, it's fine."

Troy felt like she was hiding something.

* * *

Gabriella had asked Troy to come to the rooftop again after school. He had told her that he would be there a few minutes late but he would show up and told her to go there without him and he would meet her there. When the bell rang for dismissal, he headed to his locker after staying in his last class for a couple minutes to show something to Chad that he'd promised to. When he went to his locker, packed up and walked down the hall, he quickened his pace since Gabriella was probably already on the roof waiting for him.

When he walked past the hallway here Gabriella's locker was, he heard someone call his name. "Troy, get over here!"

Troy recognized the voice as one of the girls who had been yelling at Gabriella when she was on the ground. He walked over with a bad feeling in his stomach, and saw Gabriella standing against the lockers.

When he got over there, one of the girls there started talking to him. "Nice parasite you've got clinging to you."

"What are you talking about?" Troy asked.

"Gabriella. Duh. What else?"

"What about her? What's going on?"

"Your amazing girlfriend here might as well be a parasite. Guess what she said before fifth period today?"

"First let me say that there's a ninety-nine percent chance I won't believe you." Troy looked over at Gabriella, who was crying again. She made eye contact with him and shook her head frantically.

"Want to know what she said? That's why she was late, by the way. We really got some good information out of her."

When Troy didn't respond she continued anyway. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, Montez over there was really dumb to honestly answer our questions. She said that she was happy she'd found someone who paid attention to her and seemed to care even the tiniest bit about her, and..."

Troy interrupted. "So what? I know that."

"Let me finish." Everyone within a thirty foot radius was watching what was going on, and aside from this girl's voice, you could hear a pin drop. Or at least it felt like it. She continued. "She said that she had wanted to be with someone so much that she feels desperate sometimes and it's been that way for years. Then she said that any time a guy showed interest in her, even as a friend, which doesn't happen a lot, she usually tried to get out of the friend zone as soon as possible but she always got rejected. So no matter who the guy is, she would always hope for the chance to ask to be his girlfriend. When she got it, she would ask. But she was almost always turned down, so she was happy that you let her be your girlfriend. So I guess that means that she really shows no interest in you, she just wants you because she feels the need to be with someone, no matter who it is."

When she finished, everyone was silent. Troy had been looking at his feet the whole time. He looked at Gabriella, who had stopped crying and was staring at the floor. Troy quickly looked back at his feet, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, especially not Gabriella. He wasn't sure what he thought at this point; he needed some time to think it over. When the crowd went away, it was just him, Gabriella and a few silent spectators.

Gabriella spoke as Troy started to walk away. "I didn't say anything like that."

She didn't sound too convincing, and Troy walked past her without saying a word. He left the building. He didn't know if he wanted to ignore what he had just heard, take some time away from Gabriella or even break up. When he thought about it, it did make sense that she would think like that. Part of him wanted to believe Gabriella that she didn't say it, but as he thought about it, that part that wanted to believe her was shrinking fast. It made perfect sense that she would say that. Everything about the way she had been acting showed she must've said it. She did seem clingy, and a little desperate. Besides, it had seemed like she was keeping some information from him when he talked to her at lunch. That was probably what she had been hiding.

Troy didn't want to suddenly decide that he wanted to abandon Gabriella, since these thoughts he was having were probably just a result of being surprised by what he'd heard. So he shut it out of his mind and decided not to think about it again until he could reason clearly with himself.

Gabriella walked home by herself, wondering if the best chance she had ever gotten with a guy was ruined.

**SORRY, I DIDN'T WANT THAT DRAMA TO COME UP BETWEEN THEM EITHER. BUT I HAD TO PUT IT IN SINCE IT'S COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC TO HAVE THEM GO DOWN A SMOOTH ROAD, SINCE I'LL ADMIT THAT AFTER RE-READING THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS, GABRIELLA DOES SEEM EXTREMELY DESPERATE. THEY BOTH KIND OF DO, ACTUALLY. BUT GABRIELLA SEEMS A MILLION TIMES MORE DESPERATE THAN TROY. SO ANYWAY, I HAD TO KEEP IT REALISTIC AND PUT THIS PART IN. BESIDES, IT MAKES THE STORY MORE EXCITING. ALSO, I MIGHT TAKE A WHILE, PROBABLY ABOUT FIVE DAYS, TO UPDATE, SINCE I'M ABOUT TO START WORKING ON ANOTHER STORY ABOUT TROY AND GABRIELLA. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE CALLED YET, BUT I KNOW PRETTY MUCH WHAT THE PLOT IS GOING TO BE, AND I'M EXCITED BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE REALLY GOOD. IT'S ANOTHER MULTIPLE CHAPTER STORY THAT I'LL BE UPDATING A LOT. I'LL TRY TO REMEMBER TO TELL YOU WHAT IT'S CALLED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY, AND THEN IF YOU WANT, YOU CAN GO CHECK IT OUT AND I HOPE YOU'LL LIKE IT. BUT FOR NOW, I'M GOING TO START WORKING ON THE NEW STORY AND I'LL GET BACK TO UPDATING THIS STORY AS QUICKLY AS I CAN. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION. BUT THANKS FOR READING THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE FOLLOW THIS STORY AND REVIEW! I'LL UPDATE SOON!**


	4. Time Apart

**_I KNOW THIS IS A LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE BUT PLEASE READ IT:_**

**SORRY, I KNOW I SAID IT WOULD TAKE A WHILE TO UPDATE THIS STORY BUT I WANTED TO PUT THIS SHORT CHAPTER OUT BECAUSE NEXT CHAPTER, I THINK IS GOING TO BE A LOT LONGER. AND THIS IS JUST A SIMPLE CHAPTER THAT SETS UP THE STAGE FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER, WHICH WILL BE A LOT BETTER, SO I WANTED TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT OF THE WAY SO I COULD COMPLETELY FOCUS ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY, AND ALSO SO I COULD FOCUS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEW STORY, WHICH I TOLD YOU ABOUT LAST CHAPTER. SO HERE'S JUST A SHORT CHAPTER, WHICH IS JUST A SUMMARY OF THE NEXT STEP TAKEN BY TROY AND GABRIELLA, AND THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY WILL BE BETTER. IT MAY TAKE A WHILE TO PUT IT OUT BECAUSE I'M FOCUSING ON THE BIG FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEW STORY AND OBVIOUSLY THE BIG NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY, WHICH WILL TAKE A WHILE TO WRITE, SO IT MIGHT NOT BE OUT FOR A BIT. SO I WANTED TO GET THIS SHORT CHAPTER OUT OF THE WAY SO I CAN EASILY FOCUS ON THE LONGER, COMING CHAPTERS OF TWO DIFFERENT STORIES, ONE OF THEM BEING THIS ONE. AND I'M REALLY STARTING TO REPEAT MYSELF NOW. SO ANYWAY I'LL STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR WHY THIS CHAPTER IS SO SHORT BECAUSE WITH ALL THAT BABBLE YOU PROBABLY FIGURED IT OUT BY NOW AND YOU UNDERSTAND WHY. SO HERE IT IS...**

**HELP ME GET UP - CHAPTER FOUR**

It had been almost two days since Troy and Gabriella last spoke. The first day after Troy found out about the way Gabriella thought of him, it was extremely awkward, and they wouldn't even make eye contact. Today, Troy still didn't want to make eye contact but Gabriella kept looking over at him. Troy was still partly shocked, partly angry and partly sad. He had liked Gabriella a lot, and he still did. But he felt that even though his feelings were there, and Gabriella's might also be, it was a bad idea to just forget about what had been said, because he didn't want someone who had the any-port-in-a-storm mindset. He could see why Gabriella felt like that though, and he couldn't really blame her for it, but if she really was with him just because she needed to be with someone, he didn't know what he was going to do. He had taken time to clear his head, and now he needed to talk to her to find out what she actually thought.

When the bell rang, he walked over to Gabriella and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and was surprised to see him staring right at her. "Gabriella, sorry for shutting you out. But we obviously do need to talk. Can you come to the rooftop after school with me?"

She nodded, looking a little confused and a little happy. "Yeah, sure."

Troy thought that she might feel too awkward, so he added on, "I'm not mad at you."

Gabriella looked relieved. "Okay, thank you."

Troy nodded and walked out the door.

* * *

**LUNCH**

Troy looked around his table. Gabriella wasn't sitting there, and Chad was next to him. They were talking about what he should say or do after school on the roof, and what he should offer to do.

Chad shrugged. "Well, I guess the best way to handle this is to relax and try to not come up with your solution right now. Because it all depends on what she says. You can't figure out what you're going to do now, because odds are, she'll say something completely different than what you expect. So you have to wait and see."

"I guess you're right." Troy said. "But as of right now, I want to tell her that we can forget it and get back together as long as she doesn't just think of me as any port in a storm. But I obviously can't say that because she would just tell me I'm not. So I'll let her start and say a bunch of stuff and based on what she says, then I could figure out what I'm going to do and how I'm going to respond."

* * *

**AFTER SCHOOL**

Troy walked slowly down the hallways on his way to the roof. Gabriella was already there, waiting for him, figuring out if there was a way to save herself. She didn't really see a way out. She had started out thinking of Troy as any port in a storm, but by the time they had their first kiss, she really had feelings for him. Not because he liked her, just because she liked him because he was Troy.

Troy opened the door to the roof and walked over to where Gabriella was sitting. Her stomach felt nervous and she was ready to explain herself. Troy sat down beside her. "Hey."

"Hey Troy."

"The number one thing I want is for you to just talk to me honestly and tell me the truth. Forget the awkwardness, just be straightforward."

"Well, what they said was technically the truth, but it was really bent. I was kind of desperate, but that's not why I was so into you. The only time I wanted to be around you because of that was when you offered to walk me home. After that, when I got your number and especially the day after that when we became official, I was doing it because I had strong feelings for you. That's why I told you about my birth. I've never told anyone that before. When those people told you how I thought, they were saying how I thought in like, the first thirty minutes of us being together. Not together as in a relationship, but together as in around each other. I was never that desperate to start out, but I stopped being like that altogether even before day one of us being together. You have to believe me that that's the reason I wanted to be with you."

"Gabriella, I believe you, but I also believe that...I guess desperateness, influenced your decision. I still like you, and I don't want to break up, but I just think we should temporarily take some time apart."

Gabriella felt like she had just been punched in the stomach. She knew something like this was coming, but she just wasn't prepared to hear it. "You mean like...don't talk or anything?"

"At first, yeah. Then in a couple days just start talking as friends and then work our way back into a relationship."

She nodded and looked down at her feet. Troy slid over to her and kissed her on top of the head. "We're not done. It's just a couple days that we're going to take apart so we can settle down. And then spend some time as friends so the reason you want to be together is more because of who I am."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"Alright. Bye Gabriella." He kissed her on the nose and walked away, then called over his shoulder, "But only temporarily!"

Gabriella smiled. "Bye."

**AGAIN, SORRY THAT WAS SUCH A SHORT CHAPTER. NEXT ONE WILL BE BETTER! I WAS JUST TOO EXCITED AND FOCUSED ON GETTING TO WORK ON MY NEW STORY TO TAKE A BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF IT TO WRITE A LONG CHAPTER FOR THIS ONE. SO I'LL WRITE THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEW STORY, THEN I'LL GET BACK TO WRITING A BETTER NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY AFTER THAT. SORRY IF IT TAKES A WHILE. THANKS FOR READING, AND I'LL UPDATE AS SOON AS I CAN!**


	5. Surprise, Surprise

**SORRY THAT IT TOOK A LITTLE LONGER THAN IT USUALLY DOES TO UPDATE. I WAS BUSY WORKING ON THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF THE OTHER STORY I WAS TALKING ABOUT, WHICH IS CALLED WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR THE ONE. I THINK IT'S REALLY GOOD AND IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE THAT. SO PLEASE CHECK IT OUT, THANK YOU!**

**HELP ME GET UP - CHAPTER FIVE**

Troy was in his driveway with Chad, shooting baskets and talking. It had been two days since he last spoke to Gabriella.

"How's it going with you and Gabriella?"

"I figured that would come up." Troy said. "It's been a bit since I last talked to her."

"Are you broken up?"

"No, I just told her we should take some time apart. Just not talk for a couple days, then talk for a few days as friends, and then whenever it feels natural again we'll ease back into it."

"That makes sense. And it also gives you the friendship foundation that you guys didn't have before. So right now you're in the 'not talking for a couple days' part?"

Troy nodded.

"How much longer do you think it'll last?"

"I'll probably call her tomorrow and we'll move up into the talking as friends part. I really want to do that and start interacting with her again because I don't want her to feel like I abandoned her."

"Why would she feel like that?"

"Well that's kind of a secret she has the she's only told me."

"I won't tell anyone."

"No, I don't want to betray her. She trusted me and I'm not going to lose that."

Chad shrugged. "Then you do still like her."

"Yeah, but I want to slowly ease back into it as I said before, since if we don't, this same thing will happen."

"Oh alright."

* * *

A few hours after that conversation, Gabriella was in her room, lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had just gotten off the phone with Taylor, who told her that Chad said Troy felt eager to start talking to her again. She thought about what they had said on the phone.

_"Gabriella, just hang in there. He'll call you tomorrow. Do something to take your mind off of him."_

_"There's really nothing to do, and now that you told me he'll call me tomorrow I won't be able to take my mind off it at all."_

Tomorrow was Sunday. Her two least favorite days of the week were Saturday and Sunday, because she usually saw no one and did nothing. So it was always spent waiting for Monday, where at least she would be around people, even if they weren't being nice to her.

Gabriella decided to at least try and take Taylor's advice. She got up from her bed and walked out of her room. As she headed downstairs she realized the house was empty. Gabriella sighed and opened the door, walking out to the street. She decided to head to the field next to her neighborhood and walk a lap around it, which was about a mile and a half. It was rectangular, and a street passed it on one side. The rest was surrounded by trees, and Gabriella loved when she got to the other side, since there were no cars there and it was peaceful. Not to mention how pretty it was.

She walked to the field slowly, and when she arrived, turned left to go down the thin, dirt path, shaded by the trees, noticing that the car noise was fading in the background and things were getting quiet. She was the only person there. Gabriella smiled.

The sun was about to dip below the trees on the other side, and it was cool but not cold in the shade. There were birds overhead, chirping and flying out to the sun in the west. It was a nice sight to see.

She walked quietly towards the back of the field. All the noises she could hear were the birds and her own footsteps; the car noise was gone.

Gabriella realized that no matter what she did, her thoughts were going to go right back to Troy. Even here, she was thinking about what he would say to her tomorrow or if they would get back together. She knew she'd really made a mistake saying what she was thinking in the beginning. It had made her seem a lot more desperate than she actually was. Besides, Troy knew right away when she was with him, that she was with him because of him, not because she needed to be with someone.

As she was thinking, her phone rang. Gabriella reached into her pocket curiously, and was surprised to see that it was Troy.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gabriella."

"Hi Troy."

"I don't want to be away from you. It was really hard to go from holding you on the roof to not even seeing your face. I do still like you and I only did this because I felt like I had to just clear my head. So now I want to talk to you again, about anything."

Gabriella smiled. "Okay. What do you think we should talk about?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess. I left my house a few minutes ago and now I'm just walking around this field."

"The one near the school?"

"Yeah."

"Oh I've seen that. It's pretty big, but I've heard that once you get away from the cars you never want it to end."

Gabriella laughed. "That's how I feel. It's nice and it's definitely better than being at my house. That's for sure."

"I'm sorry." Troy said sweetly. "You can still talk to me about that, okay? Whenever you need to."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

"I don't want either of us to feel awkward talking to each other, and I want to start moving back to where we were before that incident after school. I don't blame you and I'm not mad at you. That's why I called you. I hope it doesn't feel weird or different or awkward talking to me, because I'm not feeling that way right now when I talk to you."

"It doesn't feel different in any way. I still like talking to you and it's not awkward. I'm just happy you called."

"Well I'm glad about that. I love talking to you." Troy said. There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "In fact...do you know the park next to the school?"

"Yeah, the one with the hills by the lake?"

"That's the one."

"Yeah, I know it, why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to meet me there tomorrow sometime so we could talk. I know we're talking now but I want to talk to you in person."

Gabriella smiled. "Sure, what time?"

"Three?"

"Alright I can do that. If I can't I'll call you but I'm sure I'll be able to."

"Okay, thank you. I can't really talk for a lot longer now, which is why I asked, but I defintely do want to talk about something."

"Alright, is it bad news or something?"

"No, it's good news. I feel like I just realized something and I don't want to wait any longer to tell you. I don't want to keep you in suspense but I have to go now and I want to tell you face to face, so I'll do it tomorrow."

"Okay, I'm looking forward to it. Bye, Troy."

"Bye."

Gabriella smiled and hung up the phone. She was hoping that tomorrow, Troy would ask her to get back together with him, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. So she aimed to get back to being really good friends.

But overall, Gabriella was thrilled that he had called her. Before that phone call, she thought he was forgetting about her or losing interest, or just didn't feel like trying to get back together. She was happy that she could hope again, and the smile didn't leave her face. She started humming the tune to a song she had heard a while ago, but the melody and lyrics had never left her head. So now that she had found out Troy still cared about her, she hummed the melody of a song by Bruce Springsteen that was called "Surprise, Surprise" as the lyrics played in her head.

_"And when the sun comes out tomorrow, it'll be the start of a brand new day. And all that you have wished for, I know will come your way. Well Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Yeah Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Well Surprise, Surprise, come on open your eyes! And let your love shine down."_

* * *

That evening, Troy was with Chad again. They had just finished a basketball game and they were at Chad's house in his room. Troy lay on the floor, to lazy to get up and go to a chair as Chad interrogated him about Gabriella. Troy had told him about tomorrow and that he was meeting her near the lake, and told him everything about it that he'd told Gabriella.

Except he didn't tell Gabriella that the reason he was meeting her there was that he wanted to get back together.

"I guess you didn't learn." Chad said, laughing. "If you temporarily broke up and then get right back together it'll be like you never broke up."

"Well, we broke up because I thought I needed to take some time away from her. But I quickly realized I didn't, since it felt awful to not be talking to her. So I want to go right back to her and a relationship, and where we left off."

"Do you think you can just forget about what happened?"

"Well, basically all that happened was they said that she had said she was desperate, and that's why she got together with me. Gabriella told me she was at first, but then it became about me and she wasn't desperate anymore, so she stayed with me because I was me. So I know she's telling the truth, since she admitted she was desperate in the beginning, which is exactly what they said. And they never said she was desperate now. Well, they did, but that was just an assumption, and they even said that themselves. Besides, I can tell that Gabriella has seemed a lot more interested in me, from the way she's acting to what she says, than she was when we started out. So I don't see any reason to stay away from her. That's why I'm going to ask her tomorrow if she'll forgive me and we can get back together and forget that ever happened."

"Alright, well if that's what you want to do, it's your call. If you like her that much then you should get back together with her."

Troy nodded. "Thank you, and yeah, I definitely like her that much." Troy was excited to see Gabriella's reaction tomorrow. He couldn't wait to tell her, and couldn't wait to be her boyfriend again. This time he would be even more sympathetic, understanding and caring towards Gabriella, because he knew she needed him. And now, he was realizing that he needed her.

**SO NEXT CHAPTER TROY AND GABRIELLA WILL GET BACK TOGETHER! I DON'T LIKE WRITING ABOUT THEM BEING APART SO I'M GLAD THEY'LL BE BACK IN A RELATIONSHIP. BY THE WAY, I PUT THAT PART ABOUT HER HUMMING THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SONG IN BECAUSE I WANTED TO NAME THE CHAPTER AFTER THAT SONG, SINCE THE NAME AND LYRICS OF THE SONG DESCRIBE THE CHAPTER PERFECTLY, AND BECAUSE I'M A _HUGE_ SPRINGSTEEN FAN. ALSO, SORRY BUT I PROBABLY WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS, SINCE NEXT I'LL BE WORKING ON MY OTHER STORY, WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR THE ONE, AND THEN I HAVE TO DO SOME OTHER THINGS, NOT RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE. SO THAT MEANS I ALSO WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR THE ONE EITHER FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS, BUT THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS ARE ALREADY OUT AND IT'S GETTING PRETTY GOOD, SO PLEASE CHECK OUT WHAT I'VE DONE WITH IT SO FAR, AND FOLLOW IT IF YOU LIKE IT. SORRY, BUT I'LL GET BACK TO UPDATING BOTH THIS STORY AND MY OTHER STORY SOON. PLEASE CHECK OUT WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR THE ONE, I'M SURE YOU WOULD LIKE IT. AND AS I ALWAYS SAY, IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, PLEASE FOLLOW IT. SO ANYWAY, THE BOTTOM LINE IS, I'LL UPDATE THIS STORY, AND WHEN YOU'RE READY FOR THE ONE, BOTH IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS. THANK YOU!**


	6. Author's Note

**I DON'T THINK I'LL BE DOING ANYMORE WITH THIS STORY. PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO LIKE IT AT ALL AND I DON'T WANT TO BE WORKING ON IT IF NO ONE WILL READ IT. TO THE SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT DO LIKE THIS STORY, I'M SORRY ABOUT THIS BUT I'M NOT PUTTING OUT ANYMORE CHAPTERS. I'M JUST GOING TO END IT HERE. SO THIS STORY IS OVER.**


End file.
